While a team of lawyers went to bat for Darryl Strawberry’s legal rights in Tampa yesterday, David Cone started the ball rolling on Strawberry’s behalf through the Players Association.

“Nobody knows what the details are as of yet,” Cone said. “We are just trying to make sure his rights are protected. It’s just a mattter of what happened, but he still has rights.”

Strawberry isn’t on a major league contract nor is he on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which clouds the issue. And this isn’t Strawberry’s first run-in with Major League Baseball over substance abuse. In 1995 he was suspended for 60 days after testing positive for cocaine use.

“It depends on his status in regards to the drug rehabilitation program between the players and the owners,” Cone said when asked what rights belong to Strawberry. “I am not exactly sure where he stands on that program. He obviously has been through the rehab program once.”

Cone wasn’t sure what are the ramifications of Strawberry not being part of the 40-man roster since, technically, Strawberry isn’t a dues-paying member of the players’ union.